Australia is exterminating tens of millions of bees after a varroa mite plague hit the major honey-producing nation. Australia is just the latest honey-producing nation to have a mite plague issue causing significant declines in honey bee populations. According to authorities, an eradication zone has been set up within a six-mile radius of a sighting. […]
Tag: bees
The Life of a Solitary Bee
Bee species’ behavior has fascinated humans for eternity. Throughout the world, we watch them buzzing from flower to flower, collecting pollen. From classical songs to company logos and home décor, we have honored their existence. It’s easy for many of us as casual observers to believe that we understand them, but the bee world is […]
Birds, bats, bees and butterflies are essential for pollination in your garden
Pollinators include birds, bats, bees, butterflies, and a variety of other insects. Interestingly, honey bees are particularly recognized for their pollination skills. We’d be in a lot of trouble if they didn’t exist. Pollinators are involved in one out of every three bites of food humans consume, and they are critical to the ecosystem’s balance. […]
Researchers find that bumblebees’ body size could make them more vulnerable in a warming world
According to new research, the climate crisis may result in more small-bodied bees but fewer bumblebees, with potentially “cascading” implications on plant pollination and ecosystems. Over the course of eight years, scientists in the United States trapped and studied more than 20,000 bees in a region of the Rocky Mountains to see how different varieties […]
Shorebirds threatened by disc-golf course on dune habitat without public consultation
“The importance of urban nature has never been greater. During the last year and a half of the epidemic, city dwellers all across the world have sought out and loved urban nature more than ever… Now is the time to reaffirm our commitment to green space design and protection.” —Toronto Mayor John Tory, in a […]
EPA plans to allow the use of insecticides devastating to bees and butterflies to continue in America for the next 15 years
Despite steps by the European Union to limit the use of poisons responsible for widespread insect losses, the US Environmental Protection Agency is prepared to allow the use of four of the most harmful compounds to bees, butterflies, and other insects in America for the next 15 years. Despite “ecological hazards of concern, notably to […]
The insect apocalypse: ‘Our world will grind to a halt without them’
Ihave been fascinated by insects all my life. One of my earliest memories is of finding, at the age of five or six, some stripy yellow-and-black caterpillars feeding on weeds in the school playground. I put them in my empty lunchbox, and took them home. Eventually they transformed into handsome magenta and black moths. This […]
Did You Know Flowers Can Hear Bees Buzzing?
A scientist is researching to prove that plants can hear their surroundings. Preliminary evidence of research by Lilach Hadany found that flowers respond to the sound of bees wings by increasing sugar quantity in nectar. Hadany, who teaches at the cross of mathematics and biology at the University of Tel Aviv, reasons that since pollinators […]